You know the Skarsgård family? Swedish Hollywood royalty, pale skin, usually playing villains? They’ve been in everything from Dune and It to Nosferatu and True Blood. But as much as we’ve seen the family onscreen, we apparently don’t know them well enough to realize their last name is actually pronounced Skars-gourd. Who knew?!
A lot of people, apparently. On Tuesday, Alexander went on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to promote his new Apple TV+ series, Murderbot. Colbert told him his father, Stellan, had appeared on the show the week before, and during his visit told Colbert that he was mispronouncing the family name. “It’s ‘Skarsgourd,’ is that how you say it?” Colbert asked. “Exactly,” Alexander nodded. “That little umlaut is an ‘oua,’ it’s not an ‘a.’ ‘Skarsgourd.’”
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So, yes … Skars-Gourd. Like a pumpkin. If this is a surprise to you, well, same. But the Skarsgårds haven’t exactly been hiding the correct pronunciation of their name. In 2019, Alexander taught Vanity Fair how to say Swedish slang words, during which he confirmed the pronunciation of his last name in Swedish. All together now? Skars-Gourd.
